bugxjuice

Well I started my back last week. Marie Sena, now at Lifetime Tattoo in Denver, is doing it. She recently worked at Stay Gold Tattoo in Albuquerque, and was in town for the Duke City Tattoo Fiesta, so we did my first session at Stay Gold. 2.5 hours, and we were able to do the bulk of the lines - only a few details left to outline for the most part. Pain-wise, it wasn't as bad as I expected, I guess I prepared myself for the absolute worst. The area over the kidneys was pretty rough, but she said I took it like a champ, so I guess I handled it okay. It hasn't been very sore or bothersome, pretty itchy though - currently wishing I wasn't single, but I'm lucky that I have friends willing to help me lotion up those hard to reach spots. Super psyched to start such a big project, can't wait to work on it again!

Got this a few weeks ago at Electric 13 in Austin from Zach Taylor, who was gracious enough to come in on his day off to accomodate my schedule. Really cool shop, great experience all around. p.s. I apologize for the photo size, but people here like to see detailed photos of tattoos, right??

@else, from your visit to Electric 13, do you get the impression that they're walk-in friendly? I'm gonna be in Austin next week and I'd like to grab something small if I have time, but I'm trying to keep my expectations realistic.

This thread has been making me envious for a while now, so I decided to get the ball rolling on a back piece. We're in the very basic planning stages right now, just throwing around ideas, and it won't get started until July. Needless to say, I'm pretty excited, right now my torso is completely bare so it will be nice to start chipping away at it. I'll post more details and of course photos as things progress.

I agree, I thought the inner bicep was much worse, especially close to the armpit. My right ditch has been worked on a few times - first as part of a wrist to elbow piece, then sleeving out the rest, so the ditch has been lined and shaded several times, it was never too bad. Different strokes, etc. I like the look of a tattoo that accents the ditch, especially knee ditches. I've been thinking about what to do with mine, though I know it's going to suck - getting the back of my calf done the other day, anything close to the ditch was rough, and he was still a few inches away.

Got this the other day from Erik von Bartholomaus doing a guest spot in Albuquerque. He is currently working on tattooing in all 50 states, so go get something from him when he eventually rolls through your state.

This is a first for me, I'm taking two friends to get their first tattoos today! I'm pretty excited, it's been 8 years since my first tattoo and while I always look forward to my next one, it's not the same as that first experience, so it will be cool to be present for someone else's. I am also hoping to get something myself, time permitting.

Went to Stay Gold in Albuquerque yesterday for a little walk-in, got a little variation of the shaking hands design pieced together from some SJ flash. It's on my shin and wraps quite a bit so it's impossible to get a good picture, but here is the gist of it (it's fairly symmetrical):

On a somewhat similar note, I've been seeing a lot of stomach/torso tattoos that fill in the bellybutton, and I think it looks way better than just leaving that spot open. Has anyone had their bellybutton tattooed/tattooed someone's bellybutton? I imagine it must feel pretty weird.

I know a girl who wants one, as far as I know she only has one small tattoo at this point. She talks about getting blacklight ink incorporated into a larger piece so there is a hidden element to it. She's also into raves or drug party dance music or whatever, so that probably has something to do with it.

My first tattoo was at a very custom/appt. only type place, private rooms, etc. I don't remember there being much/any flash on the walls, just larger scale paintings. In some ways it was nice to have privacy for the long sessions (6/7 hours). All of my other tattoos have been at more traditional-style shops, more open, tons of flash on the walls, everybody chatting and crackin' wise the whole time. It's also cool to be able to see what other people are getting, and just observe tattooer/customer interactions. Can't say I've ever been to any "famous" shops, but I have been tattooed by both well-known and unknown people, and as long as the tattoo looks good and the experience is pleasant, it doesn't really matter to me.

I keep a running list of ideas, some of them are specific to a particular spot (e.g. a rose on my kneecap), some are just "zone specific", as in I want it on my leg somewhere, and will decide based on the drawing and where the artist thinks it works best. I am always doing research and looking for references. Lately I've been trying to figure out what to do for larger scale work, like my ribs or back - I have some basic ideas, but it's harder to come up with things to fill it out, like background composition, how to handle the boundaries, things like that. Obviously I will need to sit down with a tattooer to figure that stuff out. On the other hand, I also enjoy doing last-minute/walk-in type stuff. Recently I went and got something off a sheet of halloween flash, which was super fun. A few years back, I went in for a quick touch-up, was just hanging out at the shop for a while, and ended up getting something else quick too.

I've been lurking this forum for a while now so I figured I'd jump in. I'm from upstate NY (Rochester/Syracuse area), but I've been living in New Mexico for the past few years. I've been getting tattooed for ~8 years now, but it's only been the last year or so that I've been really getting into it, buying books, learning the history, learning about current tattooers and all that. I'm also always looking for inspiration and new ideas, and this website has been great for that so far. I've posted photos of most of my tattoos in my gallery, aside from one that I didn't get a good picture of (I'll post it eventually, as it's one of my favorites), and my work-in-progress sleeve - one more session to go on that, pretty psyched to finish a limb and move on to bigger projects!